Much is
said in commendation of books. But, as in other matters, there is need forwise
discriminationin what one reads.
Not all books are worth reading. There are many that are utterly empty of
anything that is noble or worthy. One might read them continually all one's life
— and yet be no wiser and no better. A hundred of them do not contain a dozen
sentences that it is worth while to keep in one's memory, or that can be of any
help or cheer or strength in one's life. This is true of manynovels.
They may excite a passing interest or emotion as they are read — but when
they have been laid down, they have left in the life no trace of beauty, no
inspiration, no visions of loveliness, no impulses toward higher things, no
enrichment. The best that can be said of such books, is that they areharmless.
They could not be indicted for bad moral quality. They leave no debris of
vile rubbish behind. Yet theeffectof
such reading isreally harmful.
Itvitiatesthe
mental appetite, and destroys thetastefor
anything solid or substantial. It enfeebles the power of attention, thought,
memory, so that the mind is less able to grapple with important subjects.

Then
there are books which are mostperniciousin
their influence. There are all grades and degrees of evil in this class. Some of
them carry asubtle poisonin
their atmosphere which even seems delicious to those who breathe it. We need to
keep most careful watch over our hearts, so that nothing ever shall tarnish
their purity. Any corrupt thought, dallied with even for a moment, leaves astainupon
the mind which may never be effaced.

If we
would keep the tender joy of our heart experiences unbroken, we must hold rigid
watch over our reading, conscientiously excluding not only whatever is obviously
impure — but all in which lurks even a suggestionof
evil.

A writer
says: "Never read a book that is not worth reading for some end beyond the
short-lived pleasure of a little excitement. A book is mainly to be judged by
the gold dust which it leaves in the mind, as it sweeps like a river through its
channel." Here is a word also from Richter: "The wish falls often warm upon my
heart that I may learn nothing here that I cannot continue in the other world,
that I may do nothing here but deeds that will bear fruit in Heaven."

When
we think of theinfluencewhich
our reading has upon our lives, we see at once the importance of selecting only
books that areworth while.
At the best, none of us can read one book in a thousand of those which are
within our reach. Manifestly this one book ought, then, to be thebestin
all the thousand.

Yet many
people make no choice whatever. They take the "last novel," regardless of its
character. Many books are made only tosell.
They are written, set up in type, printed, illustrated, bound, decorated — all
for money. There was nohigh
motivein the writer, no thought
ofdoing good, of starting a
noble impulse in some life, of adding to the treasure of the world's knowledge
or joy. They were made simply tosell.
So it comes to pass that every year, a flood of reallyworthlesspublications
is poured over the country. People go into ecstasies overtrivialworks
which please or excite them a day, and are then old and forgotten; while books
every way admirable are passed by unnoticed.

Young
people should read tried and proved books.
Many who have not the courage to confess ignorance of the last novel, regard it
as no shame to be utterly ignorant of the classics. It is quite safe to say that
not one person in a hundred now reads Milton's Paradise Lost, and that
not one in a thousand has ever read a translation of Homer's Iliad. With
all our glorifying of Shakespeare, how many really read even his great
masterpieces? ThePilgrim's
Progressis known to
the masses of the people, only from being referred to so often. Very few read
it. We should get courage to remainignorant rather, of the mass
of ephemeral books — than to miss reading the great masters in poetry, science,
history, religion, and fiction.

No
book is really worth reading, which does not either impart valuable knowledge,
or set before us some ideal of beauty, strength, or nobility of character.
The ancients were accustomed to place the statues of their distinguished
ancestors about their homes, that their children, by continually seeing them,
might be stimulated to emulate their noble qualities. Noble lives embalmed in
printed volumes have a wondrous power to kindle the hearts of the young, for, as
a writer says, "A good book holds as in a vial, the purest efficacy and
instruction of the living intellect that bred it." There are enough great
books to occupy us during all our short and busy years. If we are wise, we
will resolutely avoid all but the richest and the best.

"We need
to be reminded every day," writes one, "how many are the books of unapproachable
glory, which, with all our eagerness after reading, we have never taken in our
hand. It will astonish most of us to find how much of our industry is given to
the books which leave no mark — how we rake in thelitterof
the printing press, while a crown of gold and rubies is offered us in vain."